“Community leaders in Chaparrí face threats from land traffickers” - 11 March 2018

Since December 2017, the Chaparri reserve (in Lambayeque region) has seen an alarming increase in incidents of surveillance, death threats and attacks against community leaders defending their land against illegal land grabbing…Between August and December 2017, there were also ten reported cases of fires in this area, believed to have been caused by illegal traffickers seeking to clear the land of zapote trees for future agricultural development…In the past few weeks, community leaders have received death threats, including those of the Frente de Defensa Salvemos Chaparrí: Javier Ruiz Gutiérrez and Wilson Sánchez Gutiérrez. They have also been the subject of surveillance, as reported in Mongabay Latam…No less a figure than the president of the judiciary, Duberlí Rodriguez, has also been the target of threats, following his visit to the region on 27 January to assess the situation. Subsequently his brother and sister-in-law were visited at their homes and told “to tell your brother Duberlí to stop interfering with Chaparrí. This is a warning”…In December 2017, local community activist José Napoleon Tarrillo was killed in his home; he was tortured while his wife was forced to listen in an adjacent room. She has fled in fear for her life.